A proud unapologetic Black trans woman speaking truth to power and discussing the world around her since 2006

Sunday, March 01, 2009

I'm A PETA Member

No disrespect to anybody who is a vegetarian or vegan, but I'm taking a moment to declare that I'm a card carrying member of PETA.

In this case PETA stands for People Eating Tasty Animals.

Hey, as a Texan I don't pass by any barbecue restaurant without stopping and chowing down on some ribs or brisket. I love burgers and steaks, especially if they're grilled to well done perfection. I enjoy ham and turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas and have even had a turducken. Living here in Da Ville I have learned to appreciate a good bratwurst and have no problems chowing down on KFC, my mother's, or anybody's tasty yardbird.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like to see any animals mistreated, including human beings. Seeing news film of starving or neglected horses and other animals pisses me off. At various times during my childhood I grew up with cats and dogs as pets in our household. I'm also aware that the common link between serial killers Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Daumer and David Berkowitz was all of them tortured and killed animals in their childhoods.

But I have major problems with PETA the organization.

The cause is admirable in terms of calling attention to the cruel treatment of animals, but their racist tactics through the years have turned me off toward ever supporting them.

This latest case in which they wore Klan hoods while protesting New York's Westminster dog show only solidified my desire to roll up to my nearest KFC restaurant and order a bucket of original recipe.

When you are descended from people who are still disrespectfully compared to primates, and you run campaigns comparing Black people to animals, your message is not only willfully ignorant and racist, it's DOA.

In addition, their anti-fur campaign has my attention as well. You have the First Amendment rights to protest people wearing fur all you want, but defacing celebrity stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and throwing paint, blood or flour on people wearing those coats is going too far.

Dissing the Queen of Soul or any other African-Americans for wearing a fur ain't gonna win you any brownie points either given your previous documented racist history. If I bust my ass to make the money to get a fur coat and PETA idiots attempt to throw paint on it, they'll be surgically extracting my pumps from their anus after I beat them down for doing so.

On that note, time for me to head to Famous Dave's and grab some ribs.

8 comments:

Many in the animal rights movement are against PETA, their views are not representative of the millions of people who believe in animal rights. That being said fur is inexcusable regardless of the persons race or ethnicity. These animals are skinned alive, anally electrocuted, among other sick tactics. Fur is one of the most horrible trades,it should be illegal.

Queers United--I'm with you for the most part (card carrying pro-animal rights vegan who hates PETA and their racist, misogynistic, etc ways.) I agree that the fur trade is disgusting but I also think some of the ways PETA and some other animal rights activists target fur wearers can be problematic and often leaves me ironically sympathizing with the fur wearer, Aretha Franklin being a good case in point.

Cristina a lot of people mistake PETA as an organization for being responsible for throwing red paint, etc. The organization does not engage in these tactics, its possible sometimes a member will, but its not funded as an org. The problem is anything animal rights people just point to PETA, and they aren't always to blame.

You go ahead and tell PETA some truth about themselves. I had to laugh at your last sentence re pumps and anus.

@Queers United: Have you ever said anything in opposition of PETA? Seriously it seems that you believe that they can do no wrong. While they may not be representative of the animal rights movement, their actions speak loudly and main continually fail to speak out against them.

Well Renee you know I like PETA and we agree to disagree on that. But I do not approve of all their tactics, I don't think they mean to be mean spirited. But some do come across as racist, misogynist, and transphobic, and for those particular campaigns everyone is right to criticize the organization.

Yeah, as a recently converted ex-vegetarian, I just want to throw it out there that in seven years of chilling with veggies and vegans I never met anyone who agreed with PETA. Not only are they racist and sexist, but their accounting practices are completely atrocious. I really think the whole thing is a total scam.

And on the topic of barbecue- I had my first barbecue ribs ever a few weeks ago and DAMN! I have never tasted anything so delicious. Serious food coma after that one too. I am seriously jealous of all the folks who have access to this kind of food all the time! It's harder to find up here in New England...

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Monica Roberts, AKA the TransGriot (Gree-oh) is a native Houstonian, GLAAD award nominated blogger, writer, and award winning trans human rights advocate. She's the founding editor of TransGriot, and her writing has appeared at the Bilerico Project, Ebony.com, The Huffington Post and the Advocate.
She works to foster understanding and acceptance of trans people inside and outside communities of color and was recently honored with the Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award

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